Why You Should Get Your Infant’s Ears Pierced

There’s a lot of controversy infant ear piercing. And while I’m an advocate for it, I don’t think that everyone should pierce their infant’s ears as it’s up to the parent to decide.

There are some great arguments about why you shouldn’t do it, but as someone who had their ears pierced as an infant and then had their daughter’s done too around the same age, I wanted to share with you some reasons on the other side about why you should get your infant daughter’s ears pierced.

As I mentioned, I had my ears done as an infant. My parents got my ears pierced because I was a REALLY bald baby and despite all their efforts to dress me up in girly clothes, I was still called a boy. Of course, that shouldn’t be much of a big deal but I can see where it would have gotten to them at some point.

So when ever I thought about having a daughter, I knew it was something I was going to have done for her too. And when I finally got pregnant and found out I was having a girl, I thought long and hard about the pros and cons of doing it, and these are what I came up with for why I was grateful that my parents had it done for me as an infant:

I didn’t remember having it done.

I didn’t have to worry about taking care of them myself.

I’ve never had to have them re-pierced.

I don’t know any different.

Now I know those all may not be the case for everyone who had them done as an infant. But I knew for sure they were true for me and hoped they would be true for my daughter as well.

1. She won’t remember having it done

As they get older, kids don’t remember things that happened before the age of 3. I really don’t remember getting my ears pierced, I just knew it was done when I was a baby, but if no one had told me that I probably would have thought I was born with pierced ears.

So when we finally went to get our daughter Marvel’s ears pierced, it was the first time I’d ever seen it happen (at least that I remembered) and so it was interesting for me to watch.

There was a larger group of girls getting their ears pierced ahead of us so we had to wait some time. I observed the way the girls reacted. Most of them put on a brave face but you could see them cringe when the piercing gun made that “bang” sound.

But there was one girl in particular who had to have been about 5 or 6 and she did okay with the first ear but after that one, she freaked out and wouldn’t let them do the other ear. It came down to it that her family had to hold her down in order for them to get the other ear done.

It was when I was watching this particular girl that I knew 100% that I made the right decision because though I knew Marvel would be upset for a little while, she would forget it soon after.

Which is exactly what happened. Marvel cried for maybe 5 minutes and then she happily fell asleep in the baby carrier. And when she woke up, she didn’t remember a thing!

2. She won’t have to worry about taking care of them herself

One thing I heard from a lot of my friends who got them done later in life was that their ears got infected because they didn’t take good care of them since their agreement with their parents was that they had to take care of them by themselves in order to get their ears pierced.

Marvel was too little to take care of them but it allowed us to be the ones to keep on the schedule of cleaning. I think there was only one time where they got a little red, but that was after the scheduled routine of cleaning we needed to do. So we just got into the routine again and they’ve been fine ever since!

By doing it when she was still an infant, we also didn’t have to worry about her playing with the earrings and her ears much. Though now that she’s older, she will sometimes fiddle with them, but it hasn’t caused any infections or issues.

3. She won’t have to have them re-pierced

This goes off of my own experience, as well as some others who had it done as an infant, but I’ve never had to have my ears re-pierced, even if I’ve not worn earrings for months.

Even as a young kid, I remember that I didn’t always wear earrings. In fact, sometimes I wore my great grandma’s clip on earrings or those little sticker earrings that were so awesome in the 90’s.

I think a lot of that has to do with the care my parents took of my pierced ears though when I was still an infant and even a toddler.

If you keep the earrings consistently in your child’s ears during the first couple of years, the chances that they will close up is minimal and in my non-professional opinion, crucial to the longevity of the piercing.

4. She won’t know any different

One of the biggest arguments against getting your infant’s ears pierced is that you’re taking that choice away from them.

But really, I’m not mad that my parents did it for me. In fact, because of the points above I’m so GLAD that they did it for me!

And sure I won’t ever exactly know what it’s like to not have pierced ears because I always have to wear earrings…right?

WRONG!

Getting your ears pierced doesn’t mean that you have to 100% always wear earrings for the rest of your life. I can not wear earrings or I can wear earrings. I still have that choice and Marvel does too.

So if when she gets older and she tells me she doesn’t want to wear earrings sometimes, then that’s okay!

Hopefully I’ve helped to ease your mind if you’ve been wanting to get your child’s ears pierced as an infant. Know that while there are those against it, that there are some valid reasons that you should do it! If you decide not to get your infant’s ears pierced and have them wait till they’re older, that’s totally okay because ultimately we as parent’s are allowed to choose what we think is best for our kids.

Comments

We did Cariad’s when she was a year old. She is 7 now and doesn’t always like to wear earrings, but her holes have never closed. She likes to wear earrings now when she wears a dress or special occasions. Her ears healed so fast. I had the same arguments back and forth in my head and got a lot of criticism when I decided to do it. I have NEVER regretted it.
I’m glad you went with your instincts. Mom always knows best! 😉

Thank you! I’m the same where I only wear earrings during special times, especially now that my hair is longer. Marvel’s ears are already looking great! Just waiting for the Marker to completely come off.

I don’t have a child yet, but I do have some opinions on these kind of matters for when I do get lucky enough to have a child.

Piercing ears is something I find quite hard to decide. My mother had it done to me before I was even 1 year old, and I have had ear rings for most of my life. Nowadays I hardly ever wear them anymore, though I still like the idea!

The reason why I am not sure if I would pierce my (possible) daughters ears, is because I don’t want to decide for her what to do with her body. My niece also had her ears pierced when she was really young, and now she basically hates her parents for it, lol. Every parent should decide for themselves what to do of course.. and while I would love my daughter with pierced ears, I don’t know if I want to make that decision for her.. if that makes sense? I hope this doesn’t come off as an offense!

ps: I completely love that you named your daughter Marvel. That is the most original name I have ever seen!

No offense taken! I definitely think that every parent makes the best decision for their child, especially as every child is different! I almost didn’t have her get her ears pierced. While I was sure about it for so long, when I had her my heart was torn because I hated when she was in pain. But now that she’s a little older, and I’ve watched her feel pain a bit more, I’ve grown more accustomed to knowing how to sooth her and knowing which pains will be temporary. She actually now loves to fiddle with her earrings when she plays with her ears (thankfully she doesn’t pull on them).

I’m glad you like her name! I love it too and it totally fits her personality!

Hi I'm Jessica! I'm a mother, wife, gamer, cosplayer, and all around fangirl. I love being a Geek Mom because I get to share many worlds with my daughter. Check out my about page to learn more about us!